Unfettered access to Millwall yields a work of real quality

THE WORK of Michael Calvin has been eulogised before in this column, so don’t be surprised when I inform you that there’s more on the way. At a rate of one book every two years, this accomplished sportswriter from England has shone a revealing light on aspects of football that are a long way removed from the glitz and glamour that Sky Sports insist on bringing front and centre, even when it’s not merited.

For those of you who like to remind the youth of today that the game did actually exist before the arrival of the Premier League in 1992, then his books are required reading.

We’ve already reviewed ‘ The Nowhere Men’, focused on the scouting network, ‘Living On The Volcano’, highlighting the pressures of management across all divisions, and ‘No Hunger In Paradise’, looking at the arduous player pathway from promising schoolboy to professional ranks.

In actual fact, this week’s offering - ‘Family - Life, Death and Football: A Year On The Front Line’ - was originally published in 2010, but the arrival of an updated paperback version is reason enough to feast once again on Calvin’s gripping prose.

And it’s topical too, given that the subject matter concerns Millwall F.C. whose quest for promotion to the top flight is still a possibility via the playoffs despite Friday’s loss to Fulham in the London derby.

Back in the 2009-’10 season, The

Lions’ then manager, Kenny Jackett, granted Calvin an access all areas pass to the club.

They had lost a League One playoff final in Wembley in May of that year, so when the author showed up for the start of pre-season training two months later, he was arriving at a club with unfinished business to complete.

And, after a campaign full of highs and lows, redemption arrived at the same venue and at the same stage when Swindon were dispatched to secure promotion to the Championship.

It was a fairytale ending to the book, but this would have been a compelling read regardless of that last-day result.

Thoroughness is Calvin’s middle name, and he avails of the rare opportunity afforded him by Jackett, and the trust placed in him, to talk to everyone and anyone associated with the club, from the fans to the first team and all points in between.

The introduction to this updated version of the book was penned shortly after another momentuous occasion for the London club with a notorious reputation for off-field violence: the League One play-off final of 2017 when they repeated the feat of seven years earlier with a victory over Bradford City.

And it’s quite an easy task to marry the two successes together, because Neil Harris, one of the star players in 2010 and a club legend, is now in the hotseat as manager.

While the majority of the subject matter may be eight years old, the quality of Calvin’s writing and the depths he went to in order to paint a complete picture still make this a pulsating read.

It’s interesting to note that, even then, the much-hyped Wes Hoolahan of Norwich City was regarded by Kenny Jackett as the best player in League One.

Republic of Ireland goalkeeper David Forde was one of the big characters on the squad and a person with plenty to say, and the dynamics of the dressing-room are fascinating when they’re delivered by a fly on the wall with such a gift for the written word in the form of Calvin.

ALAN AHERNE

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